Voters can pick 'none of the above' thanks to this Whitby-Oshawa byelection candidate

Ever wish you could choose "None of the Above" in an election?

Voters in the provincial riding of Whitby-Oshawa will soon see that option at the bottom of their ballot in the upcoming byelection.

• Whitby-Oshawa byelection set for Feb. 11

A 46-year-old man from Thornhill, Ont., formerly known asSheldonBergson,spent $137 to legally change his name to Above Znoneofthe,got 25 voters to sign his nomination papersand registered with Elections Ontario to run in the Feb.11 byelection.

Since the candidate names appear on the ballot in alphabetical order, his will be 10th of the 10 candidates.

But there's one smallhitch in his plan. On provincial election ballots, candidates' names are printed withfirst name then last name. So instead of appearing as "Znoneofthe Above" his will read "Above Znoneofthe."

In a phone interview, Znoneofthe said he's trying to give an option to people who are fed up with voting over and overfor the main parties and seeing nothing really change.

"I'm aiming for all of the people who don't normally vote," said Znoneofthe, who has run inprevious federal elections for the National Party and as an independent candidate under his former name.

"I thought, one of thesedays we should get 'none of the above'on a ballot,"he said.

Friendsstill callhim Sheldon

Ontario's Elections Act requires that candidates put theirlegal surname on the ballot, but nicknames can appear in place of a legal given name.Znoneofthe'sofficialname change was listed in the Ontario Gazette inDecember.

Znoneoftheis a married father of two whoworks in customer service for a bank. He saidhis family and colleagues still call him Sheldon.He said he started the process to change his name last fall in hopes of running in the federal election, but it didn't happen in time.

Znoneofthe vowed to keep his new name ifhe wins the byelection.

Just above Znoneoftheon the ballotwill be Greg Vezina, leader of the None of The Above Party.Others running in the byelectionincludeProgressive Conservative candidate Lorne Coe, the NDP'sNikiLundquistand LiberalElizabethRoy.

The byelection was called after Christine Elliott announced she was resigning as MPP for Whitby-Oshawa shortly after she lost the PC leadership race toPatrick Brown.